Tatsama

The origin of tatsama words ({{langx|bn|তৎসম|tôtśômô}}) in Bengali is traced to 10th century poets. Another, more minor, wave of tatsama vocabulary entered the (Modern) Bengali language by Sanskrit scholars teaching at Fort William College in Kolkata at the start of the 19th century.

Bengali's lexicon is now about 40% tatsama (with about 58% tadbhava vocabulary inherited from Old Indo-Aryan via the Prakrit languages such as Apabhramsha and Avahaṭṭha).{{cite book|last1=Dash|first1=Niladri S.|title=A Descriptive Study of Bengali Words|date=2015|publisher=Foreign Language Study|page=255|isbn=9781316222683|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rk_zCQAAQBAJ&q=tatsama+bengali+percent&pg=PA255|access-date=9 December 2015}}

Early Odia dictionaries such as Gitabhidhana (17th Century), Sabda Tattva Abhidhana (1916), Purnachandra Odia Bhashakosha (1931) and Promoda Abhidan (1942) list Sanskrit Tatsama vocabulary.

They are derived from Sanskrit verbal roots with the addition of suffixes and known in Odia as "tatsama krudanta".

The way the tatsama entered the Sinhala language is comparable to what is found in Bengali language: they are scholarly borrowings of Sanskrit or Pali terms. Tatsama in Sinhala can be identified by their ending exclusively in -ya or -va,{{citation needed|date=December 2015}} whereas native Sinhala words tend to show a greater array of endings. Many scientific concepts make use of tatsama, for instance grahaņaya 'eclipse', but they are also found for more everyday concepts.{{citation needed|date=March 2020}}

For the most part, the western Indo-Aryan languages such as Punjabi, Sindhi, Hindko, and Saraiki do not use tatsama vocabulary. The majority of words in these languages are inherited from Prakrit or borrowed from Persian and Arabic. The notable exception in the group of western Indo-Aryan languages is Hindustani, which began with most of its borrowed vocabulary coming from Persian, and in recent history has incorporated a larger amount of learned borrowings from Sanskrit in its new variety called Modern Standard Hindi.{{cite Q|Q113330708}} Many of these, however, are borrowed indirectly from Bengali or Marathi,{{cite Q|Q116698457}} or given meanings based on English or Perso-Arabic derived words already in use in Hindustani.{{cite Q|Q117037727}}{{cite Q|Q117037565}} Any tatsama vocabulary occurring in Punjabi is borrowed from Hindi,{{cite Q|Q116262232}} and likewise tatsama words in languages spoken further west are likely to be indirect loans of Hindi words used in Punjabi. Very few of these are used in colloquial speech, and their use tends to be limited to formal settings or Hindu religious contexts.{{cite Q|Q113574784}}

Malayalam has many tatsama words, which are used in written and spoken language depending on register and dialect.

For example:

{{div col|colwidth=12em}}

• abhimānam, pride
• abhyāsam, practice
• vidya, education
• viśuddham, holy
• viśvāsam, believe
• śvāsam, breath
• vichāram, thought
• bōdham, sense
• śatru, enemy
• rakṣakan, saviour
• ākāśam, sky
• svargam, heaven
• pustakam, book
• svapnam, dream
• prēmam, love
• ullāsam, merriment
• śarīram, body
• daivam, god

{{div col end}}

Sanskrit influenced the Telugu language for about 500 years. During 1000-1100 AD, Nannaya's Telugu in Mahabharata, Telugu in several inscriptions, Telugu in poetry reestablished its roots and dominated over the royal language, Sanskrit. Telugu absorbed the Tatsamas from Sanskrit.{{citation |publisher=Telugu academy| first=G | last=Ramadasu | title=Telugu bhasha charitra| year=1980 }}

Metrical poetry in Telugu ('Chandassu') uses meters such as Utpalamala, Champakamala, Mattebham, Sardoola, Sragdhara, Bhujangaprayata etc.. which are pure Sanskrit meters.

Telugu has many tatsama words, known as prakruti. The equivalent colloquial words are called vikrutis, meaning "distorted". Prakruti are used only as a medium of instruction in educational institutions, offices etc. Today, spoken Telugu contains both prakruthi and vikruthi words.

For example:

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{{Bengali language topics}}

{{Sinhala language}}

Category:Lists of loanwords

Category:Sanskrit words and phrases

Category:Etymology